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METRO VANCOUVER -- Surrey is skirting the traditional route for regional planning by appealing directly to the federal government for $1.8 billion in funding to build three light rail lines across the city.

The pitch, made under the Building Canada Plan, underscores years of frustration by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and other regional mayors over TransLink decisions that have pitted municipalities against each other for transit projects.

It also comes at a time when TransLink is financially hamstrung, with no money to expand transit services while facing demands from B.C.’s largest cities — Vancouver and Surrey — for expanded rapid transit.

Watts and other mayors also argue a looming referendum on potential transit funding options is doomed to fail, leading to further delays on much-needed transit projects.

Surrey argues its pitch to the Building Canada Fund, which is offering $53 billion over 10 years for infrastructure improvements in Canada, including transportation, is necessary for goods movement because it will get people out of their cars and taking transit, freeing up the roads. If approved, the project would likely be based on cost-sharing between the federal, provincial and local governments.

“We’re coming at this from all fronts. We’ve had no expansion since Expo (1986) and 70 per cent of the future growth is coming south of the Fraser,” Watts said. “We’ll work with TransLink and work with the province, but at the same time we still have to move the city forward. Keeping the status quo or doing nothing is not an option.”

City officials plan to lobby federal transportation minister Lisa Raitt, as well as local MPs, the province and TransLink, which is responsible for transportation planning in Metro Vancouver and receives funds on behalf of municipalities, to press its case for light or at-grade rail.

This isn’t the first time the city has tried to bolster support for light rail. When TransLink said it preferred to extend the rapid transit line with SkyTrain technology, Surrey spent taxpayers’ dollars on a cost feasibility study on at-grade light rail.

Watts argues at-grade rail — and not the monolithic concrete SkyTrain — is desperately needed to shape the city, which is expected to see its population swell from half a million today to more than 750,000 in the next 30 years. Surrey also contributes $41 million annually to TransLink’s coffers, yet this money has been spent on projects such as the West Coast Express and the Millennium Line, and not in the city itself.

Coun. Tom Gill says if Surrey does get federal funding, the city may go so far as to challenge legislation in the South Coast Transportation Act to ensure that TransLink honours its plans for light rail stretching from City Centre to Guildford, Langley and White Rock.

“Surrey has been ignored, there’s no question,” said Gill, chairman of the city’s transportation and finance committees. “This council has been very respectful of TransLink and the province but we have short fuses now. The No. 1 issue in Surrey, by far, is transportation. We feel we should be next in terms of priorities.”

Given Surrey’s status as the region’s second-largest city, the move could be a significant blow to TransLink, which is responsible for transportation planning across the region.

Larry Frank, a professor in sustainable transportation at the University of British Columbia, maintains it’s very unusual for a municipality to make a direct application to the federal government. Such a move could lead to an ad hoc and chaotic process, he said, with any available money going to the first municipality to cut a deal and leaving the others with nothing.

The Broadway corridor, he added, has huge pent-up demand and is just as important as Surrey, as are other projects on TransLink’s priority list.

“There’s been a lot of waiting for investment in other parts of the region. Surrey is not the only one waiting for transportation funding,” Frank said. “What’s to keep others from doing that? It further symbolizes the erosion in regional planning process.

“They’re giving up and saying ‘we just want to do it any way we can.’ I’m worried about other projects in the region that are needed. We need a coherent regional planning process and framework and buy-in, so this is just more problematic.”

Gill said he agrees that both Vancouver and Surrey are deserving of their transit projects, but the city can’t wait around for TransLink to come up with the money.

“From an equality perspective the folks in Vancouver are served much better than the folks in Surrey. The transit opportunities should have some equitable base for both municipalities,” Gill said. “We are not getting value for money in terms of our contribution to TransLink and we would like to see that improved drastically.”

Both projects are on TransLink’s priority list along with a new or refurbished Pattullo Bridge, a gondola up Burnaby Mountain to Simon Fraser University and upgrades to the Expo Line.

TransLink’s Bob Paddon, vice-president of strategic planning, said he hasn’t seen the application from Surrey and it’s not yet known how much of that money would come to B.C. He noted TransLink hasn’t made a decision yet on what technology to use but acknowledged there are compelling cases for both light rail and SkyTrain.

“We have not landed on a rapid transit plan for the region,” he said. “What I believe this comes down to is Surrey stating its preference and it’s anxious to see rapid transit investment. It’s always helpful to have municipalities say to the Government of Canada we’d like to see an investment in transportation.

“We need to reach a collective decision on what’s best for the region as a whole and how we’re going to best apply the dollars that are available to us.”

B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone was unavailable for an interview.

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Surrey asks feds for $1.8 billion for light rail

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